This week I’ve returned to the warm, cozy comfort of behind my laptop for Conquering the Kitchen, which I’m sure will please Martha Stewart worshippers and rolling pin aficionados who weren’t fans of last week’s video.
During the past week, I’ve taken a few baby steps of progress toward learning how to cook. And by baby steps, I mean dragging my feet on the ground while groaning, as opposed to actually taking a step.
That probably didn’t make much sense, but this should clear the fog I created — I “cooked” Hamburger Helper for dinner tonight.
Yes, it still comes in a box, and yes, the majority of the preparation is already done, but it required me to cook ground beef on the stove — a feat that was terrifying not so long ago.
After last week’s initiation, the stove and I have slowly become more acquainted. I felt semi-comfortable cooking on it and everything went smoothly, except for the part when I put the lid on and the Hamburger Helper concoction exploded out of it, but no big deal! Nothing that my Dollar Store knockoff brand kitchen cleaner couldn’t handle.
Besides that, the meal came out pretty decent and I was able to feed four people and have leftovers for only $2.
Yay for mystery packaged foods!
But what I’m most proud of this week was my trip to the grocery store. I went by myself, headed directly to the meat section, bought the right thing and signed up for a Winn-Dixie card.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt more like an adult in my life. I even felt more grown up than when I went to an R-rated movie a few weeks ago and didn’t get carded.
This week I have also further indulged in my obsession with pita bread. I really love it a lot. Probably too much. My personal favorite kind is Toufayan Bakeries’ wheat pita. I’ve eaten almost the entire pack of it by myself in a week.
My favorite things to do with it are pita pocket banana-Nutella deliciousness (duh), warm pita slices with hummus (I’m currently indulging in cilantro hummus I bought from the Farmer’s market. Weird but tasty!), and pita pizzas.
Pita pizzas are the first things I ever learned how to make and I ate them pretty much everyday of summer during high school.
They’re self-explanatory: pizza toppings + pita + oven. Enjoy!
So what’s your favorite thing to do with pita bread? I’m totally open to new pita ideas!
This week was a tie:
Kitchen: 1.5. Emily: 1.5
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Hi Dana, Great post! I wtnaed you to know that the local food bank will be getting a donation of soup and other items because of your blog. Thank you so very much for all you do and for your blog. It's much appreciated.Dana I did have a question for you. I printed coupons from the coupon network site and noticed all the bar code numbers were the same even though the site let me print two. Have you ever had a problem with this? Will the coupons beep? I guess I should ask–is the print limit 2 per computer from the coupon network site? I've never used this site before and didn't understand why the bar codes were the same, if it was an error or if this is the usual case for this site. What is the print limit for this site? I was worried that the cashier might think the coupon was a copy rather than a separate print that it was. Would love to hear your thoughts on this….Thanks again! You rock!